“ can i ask… what happened? ”
[ to charlie, from @lcstfcund ! ( hello ! ) ]
question prompts - accepting
charlie normally delighted in attention. on the stage, especially, beneath the warm glow of spotlights, or when sharing her best paintings. but not now. not when she sat on a park bench, her knee jittering and her face tear-stained, her bicycle little more than a crumpled wreck leaned against the bench. not now.
she shook her head adamantly and attempted a reassuring smile, though it wavered at the edges and she couldn’t meet the other’s gaze for long. “oh, nothing. it’s nothing, it’s— it’s really nothing.” she was a dreadful liar, and she failed to convince herself as well. blotchy red seeped through the torn knee of her overalls. it hurt, but charlie didn’t care about that, really. she cared more about the broken canvas that rested on her lap, cradled in her hands gently like some sort of injured bird with wood for bones.
“i just, um… crashed my bike, a bit.” more than a bit. the lump in her throat blocked any further attempts to explain. don’t fall to pieces, she chided herself. you’re being silly. “i’ll be alright, really, in a moment or so,” she managed to add, though the shakiness of her voice did little to aid her persuasiveness.